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The 7th Continent

189 questions players ask about The 7th Continent. Pick one for the answer. See also the full rulebook.

Updated 2026-11-05.

  • Setup and expansions
  • Turn sequence
  • Action resolution
  • Consequences of actions and events
  • Life force, Action Deck and Discard Pile
  • Exploring the continent
  • Items
  • Saving and resuming
  • Winning, losing and game modes
  • Cards, icons and general
  • Curses and scenarios
  • The 7th Continent: What Goes Up, Must Come DownExpansion
  • The 7th Continent: The Flying RootsExpansion

Setup and expansions

  • Can you play The 7th Continent with five players?
  • Which cards make up the Action Deck at setup?
  • Are Advanced Skill cards part of the starting Action Deck?
  • Which starting card do you use when you play several curses at once?
  • Should you mix expansion cards into the base game before choosing a curse?
  • What happens when an expansion card has the same number as a base game card?
  • How many fire figures does each character have, and what happens when you light a second fire?
  • Does a fire figure count as the Fire resource?
  • Can you read the 777 (easy mode) or 650 (hardcore) card during setup despite the rule against looking at Adventure cards?

Turn sequence

  • Are there turns, turn order or passing in The 7th Continent?
  • Can another player join an action after the involved characters have been decided?
  • Can you take an action from an adjacent card without moving onto it?
  • Must you finish one action completely before starting another?
  • Can you give a Skill card from your hand to another player?
  • May players show or discuss the cards in their hands?
  • Can you pray more than once at the same idol or Terrain card?

Action resolution

  • When must you decide which items to use in an action, and can you wait until you see the cards?
  • How many Skill cards can you keep from one action, and who gets it?
  • When is the hand size limit enforced?
  • How do lucky 7 and 7-star icons turn into successes?
  • Do the stars on Skill cards in your hand or on your items count as successes?
  • How do half-stars combine into full stars?
  • What does the padlock (lock) icon on an action change?
  • Can a card that draws extra cards be used on a locked action?
  • Can you apply only part of a cost reduction, such as drawing 1 fewer card with a -2 effect?
  • Can you draw more cards than an action's cost, and do you decide before revealing?

Consequences of actions and events

  • Do discarded cards go to the Discard Pile or the Past?
  • What is the difference between temporary and permanent events, and can you postpone a temporary one?
  • When a revealed event shows a mandatory action, who has to take it and when?
  • Can you hold two copies of the same State card?
  • How many cards do you discard for a State card with the vital force loss icon?
  • Who becomes Paranoid when a group action fails, and how is it removed?
  • Does an action's consequence apply to every involved character or just the active player?
  • What if no card with the needed number is available in the Adventure Deck?
  • Which card do you take when several cards share the number?

Life force, Action Deck and Discard Pile

  • What happens when the Action Deck runs out and you still need to draw?
  • Do Curse cards hurt you while the Action Deck still has cards?
  • What if an action needs more cards than remain in the Action Deck?
  • Can you still keep a Skill card when drawing from the Discard Pile?
  • How can you refill the Action Deck?
  • Do Think and Remember work when the Action Deck is empty?
  • Can you look through the Action Deck or the Discard Pile?
  • When drawing randomly from the face-down Discard Pile, can you just take the top cards?
  • When is the Discard Pile turned face up again?
  • What if a State card tells you to discard from the Action Deck while it is empty?

Exploring the continent

  • Whose movement cost do you pay when you move: the card you leave or the one you reach?
  • Can one Move action take you across several Terrain cards, and what blocks it?
  • Do you move onto the new Terrain card automatically after resolving an Exploration card?
  • How does the discount for moving toward a fire or another explorer work?
  • Can you open an Exploration card from any Terrain card next to it, or only the one whose arrow created it?
  • Do you need to stand on a Terrain card to spot and use a hidden number on it?
  • Where can hidden numbers appear, and are they always obvious?
  • When you replace a card via a hidden number, do you discard or banish the original?
  • Can you repeat an action while the permanent event it created is still in play?

Items

  • How does combining items work, and when does durability add together?
  • How many cards can one item hold, and how many items can you have?
  • What does spending one durability pip let you do with a combined item?
  • Can you remove a single card from a combined item?
  • If an item in a stack says to discard it after use, what is discarded?
  • What happens when an item's durability reaches zero?
  • Does food have to be in your inventory to eat it, and does it take space?
  • If a stack holds several food cards, can you eat them all in one action?
  • What does it cost to give or swap items between characters?
  • Can you track item durability with Save cards instead of dice?

Saving and resuming

  • What do you keep and what goes back to the box when you save?
  • Can you save when a character is away from the group, or mid-action?
  • Does a fire survive saving and resuming?
  • Does saving restore hunting spots or hunt results?
  • What happens to roots, worms and the balloon when you save?
  • Can you keep more than one saved game going?
  • Can you save and reload to undo a bad result or retry a card?
  • Is saving mandatory?
  • Can players join or leave a game in progress?
  • Can you swap characters mid-run and keep the items?

Winning, losing and game modes

  • When exactly do you lose the game?
  • What happens when a character dies or is eliminated?
  • Does anything carry over to a new game after you win or lose?
  • When you lift one of several curses, what happens to its Curse card and to the game?
  • How does Easy mode (card 777) work?
  • What are Hardcore (650), Immortal (888) and Prodigy modes?
  • After the party loses, do you restart the curse from scratch?
  • Does the order of play matter when you play several curses?

Cards, icons and general

  • How do hand limits work for Skill, Bonus and State cards?
  • Does your Character card count as a State card or red-hand card?
  • Can you use or hold a Skill card that shows another character's portrait?
  • Can you discard Skill or Bonus cards from your hand voluntarily?
  • Is a Skill or Bonus card discarded after you use it?
  • When can you play a Skill card that has no timing text?
  • Which cards go straight to inventory and which go to your hand?
  • Is Gorchkov's Sixth Sense meant to be reusable?
  • Is the Advanced Skill Knowledge is power (A0120) a blank misprint?
  • How do you get Advanced Skill cards and experience points?

Curses and scenarios

  • Is sacrificing the goat required to lift the Voracious Goddess curse?
  • What do the snowflake and spider symbols mean if you only own the base game?
  • Can you reach a curse's special area without playing that curse?
  • Do you have to find all the guardians to finish The Offering to the Guardians?
  • On the Voracious Goddess map, is the underground dungeon past the X part of the curse?
  • Can I add all the Crystal's Song cards to the base game at once?

The 7th Continent: What Goes Up, Must Come DownExpansion

  • What does the red diamond Mastery icon do?
  • A card tells you to put a white 680 card into play but the Weather card was returned. How do you travel?
  • How do you take off again after landing the balloon, and what happens when you save?
  • When do you take a white card instead of a green one?
  • Should you add What Goes Up, Must Come Down to the base game right away?
  • Is What Goes Up, Must Come Down compatible with the Classic edition of the base game?
  • Can you trade cost for difficulty when solo with this expansion's characters?
  • Does the expansion change the 35 basic Skill cards or what carries between curses?

The 7th Continent: The Flying RootsExpansion

  • If you draw two Strangest Encounter cards in one action, do both place a root and does the action fail?
  • When Strangest Encounter shows up during a Move, does the root go on the old or the new Terrain?
  • Do Flying Roots cards replace the Death is lurking cards?
  • Are Strangest Encounter cards resolved when they are discarded from the Action Deck?
  • If a move action with a Strangest Encounter fails, do you move?
  • Do Flying Roots stay when you save?
How does the solo or build-your-own character work, and is it required for solo play?
  • Do you have to play the curses in a particular order, and does anything carry over?
  • Do the classic, first and second editions play by different rules?
  • Do you need the app or an internet connection to play?
  • How can you tell which cards are BGG promo cards or expansion cards?
  • How does the -X cards / +X successes option for group actions work?
  • Can a character with no useful cards or items still be involved in an action?
  • Can several involved characters each apply the same permanent event or terrain bonus in one action?
  • Can you take an action using only a brown-box item or card, such as Rest or Make fire?
  • When is an action mandatory?
  • What happens if you fail an action that has no black failure section, and can you retry?
  • When a hunt or fishing action shows several result cards, do you resolve all of them?
  • If an action's consequence tells you to take another action, do you draw fresh cards?
  • Can you use the same item more than once in an action, such as eating food repeatedly from one stack?
  • What does the Mastery red diamond icon do?
  • Can you keep one of the drawn cards when you move or craft?
  • Does a zero-cost action still require drawing cards?
  • Can a solo player lower an action's cost in exchange for extra successes?
  • Can another player take, or be active for, an action from a card in my hand?
  • When can't you take a visible action again?
  • Can you ignore stars on cards you draw to avoid succeeding?
  • How do you get rid of a Tired state?
  • Can you repeat a free Rest action to bank experience points?
  • How does a numbox banner work, and what if you have no card with the matching symbol?
  • Can you use a permanent event's actions and resources away from the Terrain it is attached to?
  • May you read an action's success and failure consequences before deciding to take it?
  • How do you remove the Bloody state?
  • If a card triggers when you get a state you already have, does it trigger immediately?
  • Does one Rest action remove Tired from everyone who is tired?
  • Do you look at the card when told to banish a numbered card?
  • When do banished cards come back?
  • What does the banish and replace icon do, and are hunting cards banished?
  • What does "and/or" mean on a card's effect?
  • When several involved players take a card with the same number, do they all resolve the same card?
  • What does a "-durability" consequence mean?
  • What does a "reset" instruction do to the board?
  • Do you ever move onto a Permanent event card?
  • How long does a permanent event stay in play?
  • Must you resolve an Exploration card right after flipping it?
  • If you fail the action on an Exploration card, does it stay open?
  • Are the success and failure texts of exploration cards like Lost? or Stalked? swapped by mistake?
  • When a hunt or fishing action reveals several cards, how many do you keep and what happens to the rest?
  • What happens to the green card when a hunt swaps in a gold card, and can you hunt again?
  • Can you farm a hunting spot by saving and resetting it?
  • Is a fire token the same as the Fire resource?
  • What do you do when you run out of table space?
  • How do you cross a cliff, river or bridge permanent event?
  • How do you leave a Terrain card that has no move action?
  • Are diagonal Terrain cards adjacent?
  • What if an Exploration or Terrain card would go on a space that is already occupied?
  • What if you need an Exploration card or Adventure card that has run out?
  • When do you take a gold card instead of a green one?
  • What does a purple banner on a numbox or flag mean?
  • If a card shows two banner symbols and you hold two matching items, can you add both numbers?
  • Do resources printed on a permanent event count for crafting?
  • What does the crossed-out circle on a Terrain card mean?
  • Do weather figures or rockworms stop you moving through their Terrain?
  • What do the make fire and Pathfind actions on a Fireplace permanent event do, and when is it banished?
  • Must you take a found item, and can you keep it in hand?
  • Do you need resources to craft an item?
  • Can helpers craft with you, and who takes the finished item?
  • Does an item-idea Skill card count against the hand limit before and after crafting?
  • Do you pay durability to use an item's banner, and must a brown icon match the action?
  • How do items that say using them does not lower durability work in a stack?
  • What is the maximum durability an item can have?
  • Does a torch or fire-making item give you the fire resource?
  • If you already have a fire, what happens when you build another?
  • Does durability change when an effect removes one card from a stack?
  • What does the Woven Basket do?
  • Is a bare 7 or a star-7 worth anything on its own?
  • If a banner shows several pictographs, must you use all of them?
  • Are brown icons and brown boxes mandatory?
  • What does the green-to-gold icon mean?
  • Can you read the back of an Adventure card before taking it?
  • What does the red crossed circle icon on a Terrain card mean?
  • Can you make a fire when all the fire tokens are already on the board?
  • Is the All-Seeing Eye app buggy?